Iris
by zikkiroxh2o
Summary: This is the development of Quinn and Puck's relationship through their high school years. It will happen extremely slowly, so if you're willing to wait, then start reading! This is without babygate, and doesn't follow the actual Glee storyline.
1. Freshman Year Part I

**AN**- So, yea, another story. I've been really busy for a while, hence the reason why I haven't updated on others. I'm not sure if I will or not; depending on whether or not I have inspiration for them. I had a great idea for this story though, so…enjoy :) It's pretty much about the development of Quinn and Puck's relationship. It'll happen extremely slowly, so if you're willing to wait, then continue reading! It'll also happen through their high school years. This is without babygate, and doesn't follow the actual Glee storyline.

**Disclaimer**- I don't own Glee, because if I did, Quinn and Puck would've ended up together.

**Puck's POV**

**Summer 2008**

When people hear the word 'young', they often think of the word 'innocent'. Those people never attended a Santana Lopez party. Noah Puckerman was young; he was only 14 years old, but he could get away with being 17. He felt a lot older than he was, thanks to his dad leaving his family at a young age, and thanks to the fact he had to grow up quickly to take care of his mom and little sister. His mom worked two jobs, so no one was in charge of Noah's life but himself, and he took it upon himself to act like an adult.

By act like an adult, of course he meant endless parties, drinking, and skipping classes.

"Hey Puck, over here!" Noah's nickname was Puck, and no one dared call him Noah. He felt it wasn't 'badass' enough for his image.

Puck heard the teenage boy call him as he walked into the wild party with his hands in his pockets, "Shake It" by Metro Station blasting through the house. He wasted no time in making his way over to the crowd of people yelling 'Chug' repeatedly and standing around an upside down Santana Lopez downing a keg. Once the Latina finished, everyone cheered and clapped at her victory.

It must've sounded messed up to people who heard, but Puck wasted no time in losing his virginity, giving it up at 13 to the same girl who was chugging the keg. It seemed normal to him, and to many people at Jefferson Middle School.

Once the crowd dispersed, Puck strolled coolly up to Santana, and grabbed her waist from behind. He leaned forward to whisper in her ear, asking, "Drunk enough yet?"

Puck watched as Santana let a small smirk cross her face, not even looking at him as she replied, "I'll let you know," and moved herself out of his grip and to another guy at the party. Playing hard to get was always her thing, and it sort of turned Puck on, seeing as he had her games figured out by now.

They were dating for a while now, if you consider a non-exclusive relationship dating. To be honest, they had more of a friends with benefits thing going for them.

"Dude, I've been looking for you for ages. How do you feel about your last official day of freedom before we begin our freshman years?" Puck's best friend Finn questioned while he moved his arm around Puck's shoulders.

Finn had been Puck's best friend since Kindergarten. The two were so different that no one understood why they were friends, but their differences were what brought them closer. They were able to make each other see things in a light that the other wouldn't have seen of if they didn't have each other, and they were always there for each other.

Puck noticed that Finn wasn't drunk, and he knew he'd been there for a while. Finn was pretty 'responsible' when it came to parties, for whatever reason. He usually had one or two beers and called it a night. If Puck had been there as long as Finn, he'd have been shitfaced by now.

"McKinley High is gonna be our kingdom, man, just like Jefferson. I can't wait to stoke out all the new chicks," Puck replied, heading over to the snack table with his friend and some chips. He opened the lid of the cooler and reached into the ice cold water, pulling out a can of beer. He popped the beer open and took a swig, enjoying the cool refreshment as it hit his throat.

He sat down on one of the couches with Finn, watching some other future freshman play a video game on Santana's dad's new 55 inch hi-def plasma screen television. Santana's parents had always been rich, considering her dad was the best doctor in Lima, and most expensive.

"Santana's gonna be hella jealous," Finn pointed out.

Puck shrugged. "So? Means more anger sex. Besides, she can't control me. S' not like she's my girlfriend." Puck couldn't imagine how any guy could stick to one girl. There were too many out there for Puck not to try each and every one of them.

"I kinda hope I find a girl to settle down with. I mean, one who's not psycho," Finn told Puck, remembering his previous relationship that didn't turn out so well.

Puck chuckled. "Kelly? That chick was whack. She's the reason guys shouldn't get too involved with girls. Ya love 'em and leave 'em."

Puck remembered Kelly perfectly. Besides being Finn's ex-girlfriend, she was insanely hot. She was also crazy, and had some kind of weird abandonment issue. If Finn wanted to spend one night without her, she'd call him out on cheating with her, or she'd start crying and tell him how she felt like he didn't like her anymore or that she wasn't good enough for him. She was a mess after Finn dumped her and moved to Wisconsin.

"High school's a whole new scenery, dude, which means new girls. Kelly was one girl, but it doesn't mean all are like that," Finn said.

"With your luck, you'll probably get another one exactly like that," Puck said, laughing.

"Thanks man," Finn sarcastically replied, rolling his eyes.

Puck got up and sauntered over to the cooler, reaching in for another beer before going back to the couch and tossing it to Finn. "To high school," Puck said, waiting for Finn to open his beer up.

"To high school," Finn repeated, grinning and clinking his beer can with Puck's.

**Freshman Year- Day One**

Walking into McKinley High School was different than walking into Jefferson Middle. Puck wasn't being greeted by everyone that walked through the halls, and he was sort of a nobody. Of course, that would all change soon. Puck had a way of easily making it to the top, and bringing Finn with him. Besides, he already made friends in high school from attending high school parties, so he was halfway there.

Once Puck got his locker number and combination, he strode down the wider halls to find it, only to find Finn waiting for him by his locker. "Hey dude. What's up?" Puck asked his friend, noticing the strange look on his face. He turned to his locker and began twisting the lock to enter the appropriate numbers.

"High school's awesome," Finn said. "Football tryouts are on Thursday, I've already signed up for like five clubs, and I don't have to take Spanish anymore."

Puck rolled his eyes. "Dude, you have to take two years of Spanish. Guess you just chose not to take it this year." Finn definitely wasn't the sharpest took in the shed.

Finn's face fell as he heard this, already dreading the years of high school he'd have to take it. "Oh. At least I get a break from it this year."

Puck shut his locker and pulled his backpack onto his shoulder. "What clubs did you sign up for?"

"Rock Climbing Club, Ski and Snowboarding Club, Interact Club, Key Club, and something called El Lobo," Finn told Puck, shrugging.

"El Lobo is yearbook, man. Have fun." Puck patted his friend's shoulder and walked off to his first class of the day: Biology.

"Damn it," Finn cursed, before heading off to his own class.

Puck walked into Biology class, throwing his bag on the floor and sitting down on his chair, legs spread apart and arms crossed over his chest. Just being here gave him a headache. He was definitely considering ditching after lunch.

The day seemed to go on forever. The students made it out of there by 3:15, but Puck felt as if half his day was wasted. He decided not to ditch after lunch because of the realization that he had a football meeting after school, and there was no way in hell he was missing out on that. Miss the first football meeting: miss the team. The meeting was for people that wanted to join; it reviewed the standards you'd need, the schedules, when the tryouts were, and had sophomores, juniors, and seniors talk about their experiences.

Puck strutted toward his locker, stuffing his textbooks inside, and shutting it before running into Finn. Or, more of Finn running into Puck…literally.

"Dude, I love high school," Finn panted. It seemed that he ran across the entire building to find Puck.

"The only difference is better parties. Not much happened today dude," Puck replied, furrowing his brows. "What's up with you?"

"See that girl?" Finn asked him, pointing to a blonde across the hallway.

Puck raised his eyebrows as soon as his eyes hit the attractive blonde. She was definitely new. Lima was a small town; everybody knew everybody. Judging by how hot she was, Puck definitely would've known her by now if she wasn't new.

"Damn. She's _hot_," Puck emphasized.

"I talked to her dude. In _three_ of my classes. She seems really cool; I think I kinda like her. I mean, she's gorgeous, and she's interested in a lot of awesome stuff," Finn gushed.

Puck knew that talking to a girl wasn't the easiest thing for Finn Hudson. He was one of those guys who got all nervous and tongue-tied, and usually ended up embarrassing himself somehow. Puck tried to teach him his smooth ways, but it was no use; the guy was hopeless. For him to find a girl that he could begin to talk easily to was huge.

"Dude, that's awesome. You should ask her out. But you should seriously consider hitting on her _after_ I fuck her," Puck said, laughing and beginning to walk down the hallway.

"That's not funny, man. I mean, I seriously wanna go for it. And it'd be nice to actually have a chance with a girl at this school who hasn't been with you," Finn retorted, rolling his eyes.

"Aye, it's our first day of high school. There are plenty of these girls I haven't seduced yet."

"Yea, and we all know that won't last long."

Puck was kidding around, and he knew he had to lay off. It was guy code, after all, and he had no problem handing Finn a girl that he actually had a chance with.

"I say go for it. I mean, she could do better-" Puck saw the glare on Finn's face and knew he had to stop the teasing. He let out a small chuckle and hit his friend's back. "I'm kidding dude. Just work the little charm you have and get the girl."

"Yea, thanks," Finn grunted, another small roll of his eyes following afterwards.

**That Night**

The first freshman party of the year was wild. News got out, and sophomores, juniors, and seniors all crashed. Puck wasn't drunk yet, but the night was young. A beer in hand, he walked through the party, finding all freshmen, including new ones, had attended. "Low" by Flo Rida blasted through the large house, and almost everyone was dancing to the music. With all the girls that had attended, he knew it wouldn't be long before he took one up to one of the bedrooms and had hot, drunk sex.

It wasn't long before Puck spotted the hot blonde that made Finn weak in the knee. Maybe it was the slow buzz from the two beers he had, but he couldn't help but walk up to the girl and start a conversation.

"You must be new," Puck started, a smirk crawling upon his face.

Puck saw the girl look up at him, seemingly a bit surprised, noticing a clear liquid in the cup resting in her hand. "Yea, I am. My name's Quinn," the blonde introduced.

"Where'd you come from?" Puck asked.

"Not far from here. I just moved from Akron. First days are still always rough though," Quinn replied.

"I'll bet. I'm sure you've had a pretty good first day otherwise. I think I've seen you in some of my classes. Who wouldn't notice you?"

Puck saw a small smile curve at the end of the blonde's pink lips, noticing she liked the flirting. There was definitely more where that came from.

"Yea. I mean some of the girls are kind of catty, but I'm sure I'll make friends eventually."

"It's because they're jealous," Puck said, wagging his eyebrows. Glancing down at her cup again, he nodded his head and asked, "Vodka girl, huh?"

Puck saw Quinn frown and glance down at her cup, following with a shake of her head. "No, no. This is water," she answered. "I'm not much of an alcohol kind of girl."

"The good girl type. I like it."

A small glance of Puck's eyes to the right of the room showed his best friend sitting down on the couch, playing a video game with a couple other freshmen who showed up to the football meeting. As soon as Puck was reminded of Finn, he was reminded of their conversation earlier. Puck would be the shittiest friend alive if he went back on his promise to Finn. Besides, there were plenty of other hot girls at this party.

"Look, uh…" Puck scratched the back of his mohawk awkwardly. "My friend was sort of looking forward to seeing you at this party. You meet him earlier; his name's Finn. You should go talk to him. He's sitting down on the couch over there."

Puck could tell Quinn was confused, considering he'd just flirted with her one second, then told her to flirt with another guy the next. "Uh…ok. Sure," Quinn replied to Puck, turning to face Finn and striding over to that side of the room.

There was nothing wrong with giving a little boost. Puck snickered as he watched the look on Finn's face grow into a panicky and dazed look as soon as the boy caught sight of Quinn. "I'm such a damn saint," Puck muttered to himself.


	2. Freshman Year Part II

**Quinn's POV**

**Freshman Year- Week Three**

This was it. The list would be up soon, and there'd be no going back from what was meant to be. That list would determine Quinn's popularity status and whether or not she'd be somebody and make her mark on McKinley High School. This was Quinn's second time being the new girl, thanks to her dad's promotions and changes in offices, and she knew from experience that it wasn't the easiest thing in the world. Sure, guys seemed to be interested in her, but she had a hard time making close friends.

Quinn stood next to the guy she'd recently started going out with, Finn Hudson, and clutched onto his hand tightly.

"You're gonna get this spot, Quinn. Stop freaking out," Finn assured her.

Quinn didn't say anything, simply waiting until the list would be up. Finally, she watched as the assistant to the cheerleading coach walked up and pinned the list to the board. As soon as the assistant was gone, a crowd of girls blocked the list from Quinn's view, all dying to know whether they made the team or not. Some jumped in victory, and some began crying, making Quinn all the more nervous.

Once the crowd began dispersing, Quinn let go of Finn's hand and walked up to the list, moving her finger to the list and slowly starting to drag it down. She let go once she saw the one thing that could make her day: her name on that list. Squealing in victory, she turned around and ran up to Finn Hudson, wrapping her arms around him and holding him tightly.

"I made it! I made the cheerleading team!" she yelled in victory, letting out a huge breath of air she didn't know she'd been holding.

Quinn heard a laugh come from her boyfriend's mouth, before she felt him pull her back and lean in for a kiss. Kissing Finn Hudson was nice; it felt like he was a security blanket around her. He was a good guy, and ever since she started going out with him, she'd felt more comfortable going to this school. Being with him made it easier.

Quinn still remembered her first date with Finn. It was about three weeks ago, the Friday after the first freshman party of the year. After she left Puck's side, they spent the rest of the night together, and that was the night he asked her out. He did it kind of quickly and spit on her a little, but nevertheless, he worked up the courage to do it. Getting to know Finn, she realized he was a bit shy, but she had to admit, it was pretty adorable.

She pulled away from her boyfriend's lips and hugged him again, hearing a, "I knew you could do it," come from his mouth. He always had so much faith in her, and that was another thing she cherished about him.

"What's all this about?" The teasing voice came from behind her and Finn, and she immediately pulled away from her boyfriend to see who it was. Of course it was Puck, Finn's best friend. She'd gotten to know Puck some from dating Finn. The two guys were practically inseparable; plus, Finn told Quinn a little about Puck. One of the things he told her was that Puck was a straight up womanizer, which she gathered a bit from the night he flirted with her. She had to admit that she saw him in a different light than most people when he gave up trying to seduce her to push her into dating Finn. She had respect for the fact that he was a loyal and honest best friend.

"I made the cheerleading team," Quinn gushed.

"That's awesome, Q," Puck praised.

Puck was the only person that called her Q, but it was a cute nickname that she didn't mind. They'd grown to be somewhat acquaintances, since Puck and Finn stuck together like glue.

"Guess we'll be seeing more of each other on the field," Finn realized, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her closer to him to give her a small peck on her cheek.

Finn and Puck had both made the football team, and Quinn couldn't help but recognize the perfect way her and Finn fit together now that she made the cheerleading team. They were two freshmen that still stood at the bottom of each team, but she knew they'd both make their way to the top. She had faith in Finn too.

"I can't wait to start cheering at all of your games," Quinn replied.

"I'm gonna head off and get something to eat. I'll catch you guys later," Puck piped up.

"Don't forget to come over later so that we can work on our English project," Quinn added.

"We'll see," he joked, before spinning around and leaving the school.

Quinn didn't know many people in English class besides Puck, and Finn wasn't in her class, so she decided to pair up with him for the Edgar Allan Poe project when they were allowed to choose partners. Besides, this gave her a chance to get to know her boyfriend's best friend a little bit more, and she couldn't resist that. She would, after all, be spending a lot more time with him in the future as long as Finn and Puck stayed friends.

Quinn turned to her boyfriend and patted his chest. "I better get going. My dad's taking my mom and I out for an early dinner before I work on my project with Puck."

She saw her boyfriend nod before he learned down to press his soft (and slightly chapped) lips on her head. "Okay. See you tomorrow."

"Bye." Quinn left the school happily; she made the cheerleading squad, she was going to complete her English project tonight, leaving her free for the weekend, and every moment with Finn made her feel giddy. She'd had boyfriends before Finn, but most were jerks that really didn't care about her well-being or interests, and Finn sincerely seemed to care.

After a delicious steak and salad dinner, made by her mom, who usually did all of the cooking, Quinn watched her parents clear the table and get settled in for an evening of Glenn Beck. They already knew she had someone coming over to work on a project with her, so she decided to head upstairs and finish up her math homework while waiting for the doorbell to ring.

It wasn't long after she finished her homework that Puck arrived, and she couldn't help but think that he was late. Quinn was often very punctual, so the fact that Puck was late irritated her a little, but she knew that something could've popped up that he had no control over. Heading down the stairs and to the door, she opened it, letting him inside.

"Hey," she greeted. Quinn shut the door behind Puck and began to walk up the stairs, making sure he was following behind. "So, are you okay with doing a PowerPoint? I didn't get poster board."

"Yea, that's cool. PowerPoints are easier," Puck agreed.

Quinn led Puck the way to her room, finally getting inside and shutting the door behind him once he was inside too.

**Puck's POV**

Puck couldn't help but notice the portrait of Jesus hanging over Quinn's bed before anything else, and wondered if Finn knew about it. It wasn't that he or Finn had any problem with the dude, but he just wondered how much Quinn was into reading the bible and following the rules, which led him to wonder whether or not Quinn was a virgin.

"Nice little place you got here," Puck teased. Making his way over to her bed, he sat on the end of it and grabbed a small, stuffed lamb from her pillow. "Cute toy."

Before he knew it, the lamb was being taken from his hands. "Uh, don't touch that," he heard Quinn tell him. He put his hands up in defense and replied, "Okay."

Puck figured Quinn was the type of girl who wanted everything in its place from the way she acted when he touched her lamb toy, so he decided just to keep his hands to himself and not touch any of her stuff. He watched the blonde grab her laptop and begin to turn it on. Not knowing what to say, he decided just to grab a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his pockets, taking one out and lighting it, before puffing the air.

He knew that Quinn would easily smell it, but he didn't think that she'd care. He should've figured she would, considering the Jesus poster.

"Um, can you not smoke inside of my room? I have no idea why you'd want to kill yourself with that stuff but don't bring me down with you in secondhand smoke," Quinn told him.

Puck chuckled and responded, "It's called mutually shared destruction, sweetheart." Seeing the glare on her face, he rolled his eyes and continued, "You're not gonna die from smelling my smoke one time."

"I beg to differ. Once that stuff is in the air, it takes a while to leave. Right now, smoke is getting my lungs, thanks to you, and it probably will be all night," she countered.

"Chill. The smoke won't be around all night."

"It's just respectful not to smoke in my room if I ask you not to."

Puck decided to call this one a defeat and just shook his head before walking over to her bathroom and smashing the cigarette in her sink. "It's done," he said, rinsing the ashes down the drain. He left the bathroom afterwards and sat back down on her bed.

"Thank you," he heard her reply.

This girl seriously needed to chill out, in Puck's opinion. There were a lot of worse things out there than smoking. Getting to know her one on one right now was definitely not what he had planned, but he guessed she just wasn't digging the badass vibe he was putting off. "So…how are you and Finn?"

"We're good," she replied. "It's kind of hard to believe that we've almost been dating for a month."

"Yea. You're welcome," Puck said, smirking. "You guys aren't gonna be one of those couples that do that stupid month-a-versay thing, right?"

He heard her laugh at that, and couldn't help but chuckle softly. At least he got her to laugh after she was pissed at him. "I'm not planning on it," he heard her respond.

"Good," he answered.

"What about you? Do you have a girlfriend?" she questioned.

This took Puck off guard a bit. He knew that Finn told her what he did, so he wasn't sure whether she was trying to rub it in, or whether or not she thought he changed and found somebody. "No."

The room was overcome with a silence for what felt like a while, but actually turned out to only be 30 seconds or so.

"Why do you do that?" Quinn asked, pausing before continuing, "Why do you just sleep with random girls? Finn told me that he's worried you'll never find someone you really like if you keep treating people like that."

Puck was slowly starting to get pissed off. When in the hell did Finn have the right to talk to Quinn about how he was 'worried' about him? That should've been something they discussed. Besides, when did Finn have the right to be worried at all? It wasn't Finn's life, it was Puck's, and he seemed to have no problem with the way Puck lived it before this.

Puck masked his anger with bitterness, letting out a harsh snort. "What, you two talk about me together behind my back? Don't you have anything better to talk about? Like stuff normal couples discuss."

"He was just venting," he heard her respond. Puck could hear the clear defensiveness in Quinn's voice, but he was too upset to care.

"Seriously, find something better to do with your time. And tell Finn to do the same."

**Quinn's POV**

Quinn was completely taken aback by the way Puck was acting. The only reason her and Finn were talking about it that one time was to get it off of Finn's chest, and Quinn wanted to be there for Finn, always. "He just cares about you," she tried.

"Well, you can tell him that I need a friend, not a dad. You know, Q, maybe I do it 'cause the world's not perfect. Not everyone has your perfect life with a nice house and rich parents. Not everyone who worships Jesus," Puck stopped to point at the portrait, before continuing, "can butt into everyone's lives and tell them what to do or question their actions. It's my business, not yours or Finn's."

Quinn was completely angry at this point. She had no idea how Jesus managed to handle people like this, who reacted this way towards him, because she certainly wanted to blow up on Puck. She calmed herself down a bit, but it didn't mean she wanted him around.

"Fine. I'll get out of your life then. I'll do half the project, then I'll email it to you and you can finish the other half. Now leave," Quinn spat. That was the best she could do. There was no way she could even attempt being nicer than that.

"Thank God it's over," Puck reacted.

Quinn watched him leave, still shocked by his reaction. She never realized what a jerk he was until now, and she had no idea how Finn managed to stay friends with him. That was certainly the last time she'd ever get to try to know Noah Puckerman again.


	3. Sophomore Year Part I

**AN**- Sophomore year is going to have a lot more parts than freshman year, because more will happen this year :) Just a head's up. This chapter's a bit longer than the others.

**Disclaimer**- I don't own Glee, blablabla, if I did, I would've fired Ryan Murphy a long time ago.

**Puck's POV**

**Sophomore Year- Month Two**

"We suck." Puck slammed his football locker shut and draped a rolled up, white towel around his shoulders. "There's no way in hell Coach Tanaka's gonna train us to be good enough to defeat the Knights this Friday."

Another horrible practice had come and gone, and Puck was getting sick of the way the team played. Things were different since freshman year. Puck had been moved up to wide receiver, and Finn moved all the way up to Quarterback. Puck had to admit that he was a little jealous sometimes, but the feeling faded away quickly. He loved his position and he was good at it, not to mention he did a hell of a lot more running than Finn, giving him a body the ladies love.

"Come on dude. It wasn't that bad," Finn tried to insist.

"Dude, you're supposed to take control of this train wreck with the coach. When we lose by 40 again, people are gonna look at _you_. You played like shit too, so don't even try to say you were golden, man," Puck shot.

Puck was sick of losing, and he often took it out on Finn. Coach Tanaka was a terrible coach, but Puck figured that if they were stuck with him, Finn should at least step up to the plate and be a leader.

"And I guess you were the best on team?" Finn questioned.

"Yea, I was. I actually work at this thing. I don't sit around wait for someone else to do something. I do my damn best," Puck fought.

"Don't even go 'dere, man. You're 'da worst on 'dis team. If you wouldn't be draggin' us down, 'den maybe we'd have a shot at beating 'dose damn Knights," Azimio Adams piped in, a fellow football player.

Puck looked up at Azimio, a glare on his face that could've burned a hole right through him. Azimio and Puck had been enemies since football tryouts started freshman year. They never got along, and always blamed the fall of the team on each other, when Puck wasn't blaming Finn.

Puck stood up and got in Azimio's face. "Well maybe if you got your fat ass up and ran a little, you'd actually benefit the team. Ever heard of catching the ball?"

"I can't catch it if you can't throw it," Azimio interrogated.

Before Puck could counter that, he heard Coach Tanaka's whistle blow, and immediately looked over at the doorway towards his coach.

"Do we have a problem here, ladies?" Coach Tanaka challenged.

Puck watched his coach for a little while before stepping off and deciding to let it go before he managed to get suspended from the next game. The team needed him, after all. Maybe he could at least get them down by only 20 next time.

"No. We don't," Puck said sourly, before walking over to his locker and ripping off the towel. He slipped on his shirt and pulled on his letterman jacket, before grabbing his bag and leaving the room, the locker room still in silence as they watched him leave.

The team made football not fun anymore for Puck, but there were definitely benefits. Puck and Finn were at the top of McKinley High School, just like they planned, and life couldn't be better. All they had to do was work on their team and they may actually win a game.

Once Puck got to his rusty truck, which was a used car from his mother for his 16th birthday a couple weeks ago, he threw his things in the back and opened up the door. Right when he was about to get inside of his car, he heard a "Hey sexy".

Puck turned around and smirked as soon as he saw the one and only Santana Lopez. They were still on, non-exclusively, of course. "Hey you. You guys managed to get away from Sylvester before six?"

"She has a meeting for feminists at seven, so she let us off early," Santana responded.

"I still think she's gay," Puck replied.

"Then it's a good thing I'll be in your bed tonight."

"Mmm, will you?"

"I'll be there at eight. Be ready or I can find someone better."

Puck watched Santana walk off, checking out her ass as she did so. He still loved the games she played after all of this time, but at the same time, he knew she wasn't kidding. He'd have to be ready at eight, and there was no way in hell he was going to miss out on the perfect thing to get his mind off of everything: sex.

**Quinn's POV**

Quinn was surprised Coach Sylvester let them out of practice so early, but as soon as she heard the words 'feminists' and 'meeting', it all made sense. Things had definitely changed since her freshman year. Instead of just being on the cheerios, she managed to make her way all the way up to captain, and she constantly worked hard at maintaining her title. Being captain of a winning cheerleading team was rewarding, but it also meant she had to work more than the other girls, which meant using her spare time to put together routines or come up with fundraising ideas, not that they really needed the money, but they had to look like they did.

"Hey." Quinn heard a male voice call out to her, and turned around to see Finn walk up to her and kiss her cheek.

"You know how I feel about PDA," Quinn told him. Being head cheerio also meant being head bitch at William McKinley, which is exactly what she knew she turned into. And she didn't mind. "I saw your practice today. You guys are gonna lose this Friday if you keep practicing like that. Everyone's expecting you to."

"Yea…I know," Finn answered. "I'm trying to pull my team together, but they're stuck in their own ways."

"Funny, I'd say the same about you," she argued.

Before Quinn knew it, she felt someone run into her side, making Quinn stop in her place and glare at the person who obviously had no sense of direction. Seeing it was none other than Rachel Berry made her even angrier. Rachel Berry was Quinn's primes target; she and the other cheerios loved picking on her. In Quinn's opinion, she had so many things wrong with her that it was easy.

"Watch where you're going, man hands," Quinn spat.

"Oh…I'm sorry Quinn," the brunette responded. Quinn watched in pride as Rachel never even lifted her head to look at her and scurried on her way. She felt power in this position; some people thought that the cheerios corrupted her, but Quinn would say that they helped her. Before them, Quinn was as weak as Treasure Trail, and the cheerios helped her grow stronger.

"That was an accident, Quinn," Finn tried.

Quinn was sick of her boyfriend constantly picking everyone's side but hers lately. "You know, I was going to invite you over to my place for some alone time, maybe even a little over the bra action, but you can forget that now."

Quinn knew Finn would regret sticking up for that hobbit now, which only made her feel more powerful. She walked ahead of Finn, fixing her cheerios bag on her shoulder and not looking back. Deep down, Quinn truly did feel a little hurt that he wasn't on her side. She did have a soul, after all, regardless of what most people thought, however she generally masked feelings that made her seem vulnerable in fear someone would take advantage of her, and so far, she was getting along fine.

Once Quinn made it home, she called the first person closest to her for some girl time: Santana. Santana and Quinn weren't necessarily 'friends'. They acted that way, but she knew that as soon as Santana got a chance to overthrow her new head cheerio position, she'd stab Quinn in the back. Santana only cared about herself, and didn't bother sparing others. People generally thought the same about Quinn, but the person she was disguising was completely different than the person everybody saw.

Voicemail. Quinn had a feeling Santana wouldn't be answering, and knew the exact reason why: Puck. Quinn and Puck had barely talked since freshman year, and resorted to not hanging out with Finn when the other was around him. They sometimes exchanged a few words, but it was usually just a small argument or asking each other to move out of the way. Santana and Puck used each other for nothing but meaningless sex. She knew that they didn't really care about each other, otherwise they would've been dating exclusively by now, and Quinn thought it disgusting that they'd share something that intimate as just friends.

Quinn set her cell phone down onto her side table, a small sigh escaping her lips. Being head cheerio was great; she had the power, the popularity, and pretty much received anything she asked for. Every boy wanted to be with her, and every girl wanted to be her. She was invited to all parties, and always had people sucking up to her, hoping they would get a chance to strut by her side. She was at the top of the food chain. The only problem was that Quinn never felt so lonely.

She tried to refuse her conscious and not believe it, but although she held all of the glitz and glam in the palms of her hands, and although everyone wanted to be around her, she was alone. She only ever had Finn comforting her half the time, and the other half of the time, he was either around his friends or she was blowing him off. Don't get her wrong, because she had feelings for Finn, but he never managed to fill the space in her heart that she thought her top position would.

"Quinnie, dinner time!" Quinn heard her mother's voice call her from down the stairs.

"I'm not very hungry," Quinn called back.

Quinn had resorted to never eating full meals to keep her spot on the cheerios. Coach Sylvester constantly nagged her about how she needed to lose weight if she wanted to remain at the top of the pyramid, and no matter what her body told her to do, she'd listen to her coach. If she wasn't at the top of McKinley High, she was nothing. Unwrapping her peanut butter granola bar, which was officially her dinner, she laid upright in bed and began chewing.

**Puck's POV**

"So much for celibacy club," Santana Lopez snickered next to Puck. They had just finished three rounds, and Puck was ready for her to leave. Sure, he had a great time, but all he wanted to do now was shower and watch Family Guy.

He felt a warm body snake around his own while he stared out the window from his bed, laying on his side and not making eye contact with the Latina. "I have a no spooning policy; you know that," he reminded her. Sex was sex, and Puck wasn't about to make it something more with anyone.

"Fine," he heard Santana say, a bit irritated, before the body left his. He felt the bed lift upwards where she once laid, and turned on his back to watch the figure get ready to leave.

"I love watching you get dressed," he mumbled. "Not as much as I love watching you get undressed, but I guess we're done with that for tonight."

"We wouldn't have to be if you let me sleepover," Santana tested, clipping on her bra.

Puck sighed, running a hand through his mohawk. "Come on San. We've gone over this. Sleeping over means more than just sex."

Puck didn't have any feelings for Santana besides the usual friends with benefits rendezvous, and having her sleep over would signify more. He wasn't looking forward to becoming closer to her, and although she claimed to be different than most girls, he knew she was bound to get herself hurt in the same way if she wanted to start doing things with him that couples did.

He watched as she didn't say anything and just continued throwing on her cheerios uniform. "You want a sex buddy, I'm here. But if you want something more, I'm not your guy. I've told you that," he added.

Puck watched as she stopped and looked up at him, practically staring daggers right into his eyes. "All sleeping over means is more sex. Don't start getting the idea that I actually want to be with someone like you," she argued.

"Funny, 'cause it sure seemed like you wanted to be with someone like me just a second ago when you were all over me," Puck retorted.

"Well, you won't have to worry. You can say goodbye to your sex buddy; good luck getting someone as good as me somewhere else," Santana replied, throwing her bag over her shoulder. "I can get it anywhere; I don't need you."

"There's a line of girls just waiting to take your position, babe. If you're done with me, don't think about crawling back," Puck said nonchalant.

"Believe me, I won't," Santana finished, and Puck saw her leave his room, slamming the door behind her.

"I knew I shoulda stuck to one night stands," he grumbled, turning around to lie on his stomach as he buried the side of his face into his pillow and moved his arms underneath it.

**Quinn's POV**

"Where were you last night?" Quinn demanded. It was another day at McKinley High School, except for the fact that Finn didn't call Quinn the night before and beg for forgiveness. "I was expecting a call from you."

"I thought you were mad at me," Finn tried.

Quinn could tell Finn was nervous, which only made her more proud on the inside. "Which is exactly why I was expecting a call. You didn't even try to make me forgive you."

"Sorry…I was busy," he responded. Quinn watched him shut his locker and turn around, beginning to walk away. Her mouth practically dropped in shock. He'd never tried to walk away from her before while they were in the middle of a fight. Usually he did his best to make them okay again.

"Are you walking away from me?" Quinn asked, following closely behind. "What were you doing that could've kept you so busy as to completely forget about the fact that you had an upset girlfriend at home?"

"It's just…kind of personal, Quinn," she heard him respond, his back still to her.

"So personal that you can't even tell me?" she reacted, sounding horrified.

Quinn saw Finn turn around to face her, only to respond, "I'll tell you when I'm ready, Quinn. I'm just…not yet." With that, she watched him turn back around and continue walking through the halls. Quinn still was in complete and utter shock, wondering what could've happened that could be so private.

**Puck's POV**

"Glee club?" Puck repeated, practically laughing his ass off as he stood next to his friend on the football field. The two were waiting to get practice started, and while they did so, Finn shared some inside information with his best friend.

"Dude, stop laughing. It's not funny," Finn begged.

Puck wanted to feel for his friend, but he really couldn't stop. It was too much of an impossible sight. His best friend, Quarterback of the football team, one of the most popular guys in school, and the dude who couldn't bust a move for his life was joining loserville. "Why in hell would you join that lame ass club?" Puck asked through breaths of laughter.

"I'm about to fail Spanish and it was the only way I could get extra credit," Finn responded.

Puck raised his eyebrows, his laughing beginning to die down as he watched his best friend. "Dude, you couldn't just do a project or something? Seriously, you know what this is gonna do to your rep?"

"I know…but I'm more nervous about my grades, alright? Mr. Schuester said that this was the only way. Besides, the club probably won't last long anyway," Finn told him.

Puck shrugged, letting out a small huff. "S' your funeral." When Puck heard the coach call them all in to talk about what drills they were doing today, he began walking towards the end of the field with his friend. "I can't believe Schuester's seriously that desperate, man. Actually, it's not that hard to believe. All he has on his team is that annoying brunette, a cripple, a gothic Asian chick, a huge black girl, and Lance Bass. And now you."

"This whole thing will blow over. It won't be long. Just…do me a favor and don't tell anyone, okay dude? Especially Quinn," Finn pleaded.

Puck shrugged, responding, "Whatever you say dude," before listening to Coach Tanaka's ranting.

It had been a long afternoon of practice, and after stepping out of the showers and getting dressed, Puck was ready to just get home and relax. Luckily, the school was pretty close to his house; it was only a five minute drive before he arrived. At least there was one perk to living in Lima, Ohio.

"I'm home," he called out, throwing his keys onto the counter and his letterman jacket onto the dining room table.

"And I'm heading out," a female voice answered. Puck saw his mom saunter into the kitchen and grab a snack from the refrigerator before heading to the couch to find her purse.

The only break his mom had was from 4:30 to 5, and Puck generally missed them or just got home when she was leaving thanks to football practice. Sometimes he made it home even later on the days when he worked. Puck worked as a pool cleaner, and he loved the job. Hot sun, he got to work outside, didn't have to wear a shirt, and met a lot of cougars. That was his favorite part. Plus, it made good money.

"You coming to my game this Friday?" Puck asked her. He knew what the answer would be, but he figured there was no harm in trying.

"You know that I work two jobs on weekdays, Noah," he heard his mother respond, watching as she checked herself in the mirror again. "Besides, I'm sure it doesn't matter. You told me that your team always loses."

Puck sighed, shrugging and saying, "Yea, sure. Whatever."

"I have to head out now. I'll see you later. Remember, don't make plans for Sunday night. We're all watching Schindler's List," Mrs. Puckerman finished, before leaving the house, leaving an alone Puck in the living room.

Puck often watched Schindler's List with his mother and little sister; they were all devout Jews, and it was something that his mother made him and his sister do to experience what Jews had to go through in the past. To be honest, Puck didn't really care. Sure, he loved his Jewish heritage and roots, but he was more of a 'live in the present' type guy. Looking over at the counter, he grabbed his keys and headed out himself, having an idea of where he wanted to go.

There weren't many hangouts in Lima, Ohio, but if there was one place Puck loved to head to just to think, besides the local 7-Eleven, it was the bowling alley. He'd had a history there, and he wasn't a bad bowler, either. He loved the sport, and it helped to clear his mind and just relax. As soon as he walked in, he greeted the guy who handed out the rental shoes, knowing him personally, then made his way to the snack line to get his usual root beer and nachos.

Slipping on his bowling shoes, he grabbed his snacks and made his way up to one of the empty lanes. All of the sudden, he spotted just what he needed to bring his mood up: Quinn Fabray. The sexy, bitchy head cheerleader, who he was sure was awesome in bed with the amount of moves she did. He hadn't really talked to her since freshman year, but he was willing to do it now. The only reason she brought his mood up was because there was nothing he liked more than annoying the hell out of her, besides sex, and he couldn't wait to let her know what her boyfriend had been up to. He promised Finn he wouldn't say anything, but he couldn't resist the perfect opportunity.

"'Sup Fabray?" Puck greeted, walking up to her from behind and checking out her ass. He made his way to her side, excited to see that aggravated look on her face.

"What do you want, Puckerman?" Quinn questioned. Puck could hear the irritation in her voice, and it just made this 10 times more fun.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Frankenteen?" Puck asked, grabbing a bowling ball from her lane and playing around with it in his hands. Puck always called Finn Frankenteen for fun, and his friend knew it, so he really didn't think it an insult. Of course, Quinn did; he could tell by the huff that escaped her mouth.

"He told me he'd meet me here. He's a little late…about 50 minutes now," Quinn vulnerably admitted. "Why do you care anyway?"

Puck truly did wonder why she was here, but as soon as she answered, he couldn't help but feel a little bad. Standing up dates really was an asshole move, and even Puck didn't do that. Much. He didn't have many dates to do it to, after all, and he sure as hell wasn't going to stand up a one night stand. He was actually pretty surprised Finn was standing her up.

"Must be at a glee club rehearsal," Puck purposely confessed, a smirk crawling onto his face in satisfaction.

He could tell she was taken aback, because it all of a sudden grew quiet between the two. He didn't dare look at her face, for fear she'd burn holes through his face with her eyes, and instead continued messing with the bowling ball between his hands.

"Glee club?" Quinn finally spoke incredulity.

Puck finally turned his head to face her and, shit, her eyes were doing just what he thought they would. "Yea, he joined the club. He didn't tell you?"

He heard the blonde let out another huff of air, before she continued, almost shouting, "Why would he join glee club? And why wouldn't he tell me? He's supposed to tell me everything. I could've talked him out of this. He's going to throw his reputation down the drain and mine will probably go down with it."

"People already think he's gay," Puck lied. In reality, no one else knew about the whole glee club thing, besides Mr. Schuester and the glee clubbers, of course.

"Oh my God! People are going to think I'm dating a gay guy. They're going to think I'm his beard!" Quinn yelled in shock.

"Probably," Puck agreed. "I mean, I do."

Puck saw Quinn catch her breath and an almost eerie look fill her entire face. "What?" he asked, noticing the almost sickening expression.

"So he stood me up to be with man hands?" Quinn wondered in disbelief.

"Ew," Puck responded. He had never thought of that possibility, but who in their right mind would choose Rachel over Quinn? That was like choosing Ugly Betty over Jessica Alba.

Quinn was beginning to look genuinely hurt, and Puck was starting to feel a little guilty. It was pretty weird, since he usually never felt bad for his actions, but the look on her face had him caving. "Q, he did it for the club, not Rachel."

He saw her look up at him, before she said, "You haven't called me Q since last year."

Puck realized it was a mistake; in the moment, she looked like the old Quinn. The sensitive, nice, girly, happy, new girl Quinn. Right when he thought she was beginning to change back to that, at least for a couple of minutes, she followed up her statement with saying, "Don't," and grabbed the bowling ball out of his hands.

"Look, can you just leave me alone? I have to call my boyfriend and complain, and I really don't need you around to tell me more of what he hasn't," Quinn ordered.

"Fine," Puck retorted. As he was walking by her, he added, "He's not a virgin." Smirking, he continued walking away and toward his snacks and drinks, only wondering what the look on her face was. That one was truly just to mess with her, and Puck was officially entertained for the night just wondering how bad Quinn might've been feeling.


	4. Sophomore Year Part II

**AN- So sorry it took me forever to update! I was busy, then I got sick badly with the flu, and now I'm finally back!**

**Quinn's POV**

**The Next Day**

"What else have you been keeping from me? Huh? Ya know, if you expect to make this work, you should start being more honest. I do nothing but pour my heart out to you all the time, and _this_ is what I get in return? Lies and secrets?" Quinn ranted.

She was once again approaching Finn at his locker on another morning at school, and she was still furious from the night before when Puck approached her at the bowling alley and told her the horrifying news.

"Glee club? Really? Out of all clubs in this school, it had to be glee? If you wanted to get a taste of the bottom of the food chain, you could've at least joined chess club. At least then people would think of you as a nerd instead of homosexual," Quinn continued.

"Look…I'm sorry. I needed the extra credit for Spanish and Schuester said that this was the only way to get it," Finn meekly replied.

"Extra credit compared to this whole empire we've built together? Do you realize what this is going to do to my reputation? What it'll do to yours?" Quinn questioned, still somewhat shouting.

"They're my grades, Quinn…" Finn continued.

"So? No one judges you based off your GPA. If they did, the food chain would be flipped around, besides me, who'd still be at the top," she continued yelling. "People only care about your appearance and your involvements. Glee club is not a very good involvement."

"I still have football. And you know what, who cares? Why are reputations this important to you? It's not like they follow you outside of high school," Finn said.

Quinn could hear the slow agitation in his voice, which only made her grow angrier herself. "It's scientifically proven that people who are more social and popular in high school go on to be important in the workforce."

"Well, in the movies, the popular kids end up being taxi drivers and the nerds get rich," Finn countered.

"You see? That's why you're so stupid. You base everything off of fiction, not fact," Quinn continued, trying not to show the sadness she suddenly felt when she realized she called him stupid. She knew her boyfriend, and she knew that would set him off. Calling Finn stupid was like calling Brittany stupid; of course, it didn't hurt him as much as it hurt Brittany, but she knew that it was still like a slap in the face. He'd always had been hard on himself and wasn't good in school, so to hear it from someone else would be tough.

Quinn could see the taken aback expression on his face. Deep down, she knew that a girlfriend should never be this against her boyfriend, but she would never admit it.

"Whatever Quinn. I'm going to rehearse for glee club," Finn finished, the betrayed expression clearly evident on his face as he shut his locker.

Quinn wasn't going to apologize, so she instead decided to bring up another story Puck interested her in. "Oh sure. Maybe you can sleep with the glee girls on the side, considering you're _not_ a virgin." She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. "You lied to me."

Quinn watched him stand there frozen, and figured she'd caught him in the act. All of the sudden, she watched his hands grow tense as he gripped his backpack. "I can't believe you'd think I lied about something that important to you," he spoke sorely. "You know what, Quinn? You…have issues."

With that, Quinn watched Finn turn around and walk away, and she knew he was telling the truth. She felt stupid and sorry that she even believed Puck, and now, the only feelings that ran through her body were depression and bitterness.

That afternoon was a celibacy club meeting, and as Quinn was doing a role count, she noticed that Finn hadn't shown up. She still needed to talk to him, but they hadn't had a chance all day. Of course, Puck showed up to the celibacy club meeting. She was still confused on why he joined the club in the first place, seeing as everyone knew he wasn't celibate.

"Alright everyone, let's start with the balloon exercise," Quinn sighed, not even making an attempt to put on her bitchy mask today.

Quinn leaned against the wall, watching as the students paired up with the opposite sex and blew up each of their own balloons. Of course, she was unable to get just a single moment of peace before Puck walked up to her.

"Uh, Santana didn't show up today, and I don't have a partner," Puck told her.

"So?" Quinn spat.

"So…I can't do the exercise without a partner," Puck reasoned.

Quinn turned around to face him, still upset from his little lie that caused her big trouble. "Why are you here, anyway? It's not like you're trying to hide the fact that sex is your sixth sense."

She watched him shrug before she heard him reply, "Santana made me do it."

"Yea, well she's obviously not here, so you can go." Quinn turned her head to watch the group of kids as the balloons started popping. She rolled her eyes at how quickly the horny high school boys became turned on.

"Seems like you don't have a partner either," Puck said, quirking his eyebrows.

Quinn let out an acrimonious laugh and shook her head. "There's no way in hell. Especially after that little stunt you pulled last night. I can't believe you lied to me about Finn not being a virgin. That was low, even for you."

She heard him laugh out loud, and wished he wouldn't have found it so funny. It was offending to her, and his joy only made her more upset. "So you asked him?" Puck questioned.

"Shut up. I'm going to tell him that you said it."

"Please, go right ahead. It'll still be you he talks about behind your back when he comes over my house, just like all of the other times."

Quinn felt herself grow nervous, all of the sudden wondering what Finn said behind her back, before she remembered that Puck was a pathological liar. "Why should I believe what you say anymore?"

"You don't have to. I mean, I guess it's just a coincidence that I know you were Hello Kitty underwear, right?"

Quinn opened her mouth a bit in shock. Finn told Puck about stuff like that? "We're best friends. I know everything," he finished, before she watched him smirk and walk off.

She was about to accuse Finn of something else, but she knew that wouldn't help anyone. Puck could've been lying and Santana could've told him that instead, but even if he wasn't, she'd made things bad enough by bringing it up the first time. She didn't want to look like she was still against him. She needed to fix things, and to do that, she knew that she needed to show a little vulnerability.

**Puck's POV**

**Saturday**

Nothing much happened on a Saturday for Noah Puckerman besides Saturday practices and pool cleanings. By the time it was five o' clock, Puck had the entire night to himself, and although there were often parties, he attended them more on weekdays than on weekends. That may have seemed weird for the average teenager, but Puck actually liked to keep Saturday nights to himself and relax because of the strains from practice and work.

Puck and Finn had somewhat of an argument after Quinn told Finn that Puck was the one who said Finn wasn't a virgin, but they made up pretty quickly and Puck eventually apologized, after a while of being stubborn. Although Quinn and Finn were all buddy-buddy after that situation was resolved, they seemed to be getting worse throughout the week, especially since Finn and Rachel started hanging out more.

Puck had learned to accept Finn's whole initiation into glee club, but what he still had trouble wrapping his head around was why Finn would want to spend time with _Rachel_. He knew there weren't many other options in glee club, but he'd take any chick over Rachel. Puck often heard him and Quinn's arguments, and it was always about glee club or Rachel, or both. It pretty much all tied into his reputation, and Puck could see Quinn's point slowly surfacing. Azimio and Karofsky had already started the teasing, and it was only a matter of time before they would round up the other football players.

Puck would do anything for his friend, but he knew Finn wouldn't be used to the new teasing, considering he'd always been at the top with Puck. To be honest, Puck was a little worried Finn would drag him down with him considering they were both friends, but then he remembered that he was a stud. People worshipped him, and there was no way Puck could be dragged to the bottom of the food chain.

As soon as Puck got settled on the couch with an episode of Family Guy and a beer, he heard a knock on the door. Groaning, he turned the TV on mute and set his beer down, before getting up and going to the door. Opening it, he saw a distraught looking Quinn standing there. It looked like she had been crying. And Puck was actually sort of worried.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Is Santana here?" Quinn sniffled. "I can't reach her on her cell and I figured she'd be here. I need to talk to her."

"No. She, uh, doesn't really come around here anymore. Figured she'd told you. What happened?" Puck continued badgering, desperate to know why the pretty girl was crying.

Puck knew that he and Quinn weren't friends. Hell, they weren't even acquaintances. They were pretty much enemies, but he couldn't help but feel worried. They were friends at one point, after all. And she was his best friend's girlfriend, on top of all of that.

"Nothing. I'll just get going now."

"Come on. You can tell me. I know you think I'm scum, but I can actually help when I want," Puck tried.

He watched the blonde shake her head, before hearing her say, still through a stuffy nose, "Puck, I don't think you're scum. I _know_ you're scum."

Puck should've known better than to even try with Quinn. He let out a huff of air and shook his head at how unbelievably she was acting. "You know what? I try to help, and you still manage to be a bitch, so, you're right. You should go."

He watched her roll her eyes, becoming more exasperated by the minute. "Take a look in the mirror and then tell me the last time you tried to help someone," she continued.

"It would've been right now, but you always have some weird issue with me that never seems to end."

"Some weird issue? Excuse you. How dare you try to put this on me. I tried to be friends with you last year, but you totally blew up and treated me like dirt. You were the biggest jerk, Puckerman. Last year, _I_ tried to help and you didn't want to hear it. Guess you know how it feels to be on the other side now."

"You tried to go all Dr. Phil on me and discover why I act the way I do. You told me that you and Finn were 'worried'. It's a lot different, Fabray."

Puck could tell that Quinn had about enough of him at this point. She had her hands on her head and was using her thumbs to rub it soothingly. To be honest, even though all they did was fight anymore, Puck never got tired of Quinn. Scratch that, he got tired of talking to her, but he never got tired of looking at her.

"Unbelievable! This is unbelievable. All I wanted was to _understand_ you. I wanted to try and become a friend and be there for you, sort of like Finn is. I was polite and patient and you started telling me how I was a spoiled little rich girl and how I was butting into your life, and you also criticized Finn and I and got extremely defensive." Puck watched as Quinn waved her hands in the air as she spoke, fury propelling through her veins.

It was no secret to Puck that he acted badly that night. Hell, after he got home, he hit himself for it because he knew that Quinn wasn't expecting his defensive attitude, and he knew that she didn't mean it in the way he expected, but he carried too much pride around to confess it.

"You know, you really hurt my feelings that night. But I guess you sorta prepared for me for most of the people at William McKinley anyway, so maybe I _should_ thank you," Quinn continued.

Puck furrowed his eyebrows as he watched the blonde in his doorway. "Are people bitches to you?" he asked her.

"People have always been bitches at that school. To work my way to the top I guess I gotta be one too."

It suddenly all made sense to Puck. She was a bitch because of him; at least, partly because of him. When she said he 'prepared' her, she meant he turned her into one because of his attitude. Most of the people were bitches at WMHS, so she must've had enough of it after him and most of the freshman class from last year. Plus, after joining the cheerios, he was sure she needed the attitude to make Sue Sylvester happy, and become friends with Santana Lopez.

"Sorry," Puck mumbled, feeling a bit guilty he was part of the reason for this new attitude. "Guess shouldn't have freaked so much. I'm not used to people talking to me like that."

Puck watched her lighten up a bit. Surprisingly, it felt easier to apologize in front of her than he thought. "Come in. Talk to me about what's up with you."

Puck leaned against his front door and watched as she looked down and tucked a blonde strand behind her ear. She then looked up and shook her head slowly, replying, "No, I can't. I have to get going anyway. I'll see you around." He could tell she was uncomfortable around him, but he was going to let her do whatever she wanted.

"Alright. See ya," he finished, watching her turn around and leave. He admired her from behind, as he usually did, and knew that one day, he'd tap that.

**Tuesday**

**Quinn's POV**

"You think this is hard? Try passing a kidney stone, that's hard!" Sue Sylvester shouted through her mic as the cheerios finished their routine.

Quinn rolled her eyes as she balanced at the top of the pyramid with her hands in the air forming a High V. Even Quinn thought that their recent run through of their routine was actually really good, but it still wasn't good enough for Coach Sylvester. She was panting from the routine they just finished practicing, but luckily, the breeze at the top of the pyramid helped her cool off and catch her breath.

"Since you all think you can get away with _crap_, I'm going to make you _stand_ there for as long as I want," Coach Sylvester yelled at the team.

Quinn knew that she could make them stand there for the rest of practice if she wanted, and although it wasn't easy, Quinn had practiced on her own time more than the other girls, so it wasn't as tough for her, and she was able to manage standing there without shaking.

Eventually, one of the girls holding her up grew weak and dropped Quinn, but the back spot helped Quinn's fall. "Pathetic!" Quinn heard Coach Sylvester shout.

"Come on guys; places! Let's do this _right_," Quinn tried, taking control of her team.

Another try from the cheerios team resulted in another failure in Coach Sylvester's eyes. "Hit the locker rooms! I can't stand to look at you anymore," Quinn heard her coach yell again. She let out a sigh and slumped her shoulders, before heading to the stands to grab her gym bag.

"Hey," Quinn heard from behind her, and turned around to see the popular Latina, Santana Lopez.

"Hey. Where have you been lately?" Quinn asked her friend, realizing she hadn't seen much of the other girl, besides at cheerios practice.

"Planning the crap out of a Halloween party I'm throwing this Saturday. You coming?" Santana responded.

Quinn couldn't help but let out a small laugh. Santana Lopez couldn't live without a party. "Uh, I guess I can I make it. Costume party?"

"Duh. Wouldn't be Halloween without one. Anyway, I have to talk Zizes into getting me on Figgins's computer to send a massive email about it. I'll see you later," Santana finished, heading into the school.

Quinn grabbed her bag and watched as the boys' football team finally got out of practice, before skipping over to her boyfriend and tapping his arm. "Hey you. Guess what?"

Quinn noticed Finn turn from Puck to face her, and could tell he wasn't excited to be talking to her, as usual. Quinn tried not to be the jealous girlfriend type, but how could she not be when all Finn liked to do in his spare time was rehearse for the stupid glee club and hang around Berry?

"Uh, what?" she heard him respond.

"Santana's throwing a costume party this weekend. It's on Saturday, and I figured we could do one of those matching couple's costumes. Do you want to go shopping sometime this week?" Quinn asked her boyfriend.

The blonde girl heard her boyfriend's best friend stifle a laugh, and turned immediately to glare at him, wondering why he was laughing at her. The glare immediately left his face, and she knew that he wouldn't dare mess with her when they had enough of their own drama.

"Why are you laughing?" she asked him.

"Those couple's costumes are lame," Puck retorted.

"I happen to like them," Quinn said, daring for him to continue.

She watched as he stuck his hands up in the air in defense, before turning back to her boyfriend. "So, shopping?"

"Sorry…I'm not really into the couple's costumes thing either. Why don't we just…surprise each other?" Finn tried, before kissing her forehead and leaving.

Quinn watched as her boyfriend left, a dry feeling filling up her mouth. She was left for hurt by Finn again. It seemed as if he didn't even care about her anymore, and all he wanted to do was stay away from her.

She suddenly felt a strong hand on her shoulder and a deeper voice tell her, "He's just got a lot on his mind," before the person walked off after Finn. Puck was there reassuring her of something her own boyfriend should've been doing. It made her upset that Finn didn't care as much, but at the same time, it made her feel less bitter towards Puck. He did apologize to her the other night, after all.

Letting out a deep breath, she took out her ponytail and carried her stuff to her red convertible, before placing the bag in the backseat and getting in the driver's seat. She never took a shower at the school; only at home. She made her way back to her house, wondering if she even wanted to go to this party anymore.

**Saturday Night**

Santana's party was already a rager. Quinn had just walked into her best friend's big, expensive house, only ten minutes late to the party, and if she wasn't looking at the time, she'd think she missed hours. People who were mingling and dancing filled the place, and creepy, Halloween remixes blasted through the speakers. The house was decorated with cobwebs everywhere, as well as mummies, ghosts, and spiders. There were fog machines in almost every corner of the house, and eerie lighting.

The food looked delicious, and was all a sweet of some kind, considering it was Halloween. Most of the girls were dressed like slutty animals, of course. Quinn was one of the only exceptions, wearing a gorgeous, strapless dress that represented Cinderella. It was tight and sequined around the top, and came out poofy from the waist down.

Quinn had done her eyeshadow a light, white and gray shimmery color, along with black eyeliner around her top lid and bottom waterline, and a light pink blush and lip gloss to finish off. She curled her long, blonde hair so that it fell onto her shoulders, and let half stay there while rolling the other half into a small bun.

Grabbing a water from the table, she watched her friends Santana and Brittany come up to her in a devil and angel costume. Santana was the devil, of course. They both looked pretty slutty, but the costumes were cute regardless.

"Quinn, you look gorgeous!" Brittany chimed up, a bright smile on her face.

Quinn smiled and responded, "Thanks Britt. So do you two."

"Hell yea we do. We look _hot_. We're going to dance," Santana said.

"Wanna come?" Brittany offered. Quinn could tell Santana really didn't want her coming along, so she shook her head and decided to allow her to have her fun.

"No thanks. I'm good," she said. "I'll catch up with you guys later." She watched as the two girls left to dance, before making her way through the crowd to try and find Finn. A lot of the guys had masks over their faces, so she had no idea whether she had passed Finn or not. She figured he'd dressed up like Frankenstein or something. That would be a good costume on Quinn's opinion. All of the sudden, she spotted Finn at the drink table. With Rachel. And they were in a couple's costume.

Quinn stood there, taken aback, her mouth slightly agape as she watched them. Rachel was dressed as Sandy from Grease before the transformation at the end, thank God, considering she wouldn't be able to pull off that look, and Finn was dressed in jeans, a white shirt, and a leather jacket with his hair greased back. He was Danny.

She felt as if the wind was knocked out of her. Whatever happened to no couple's costumes? She couldn't believe it. At this point, she was sure he was cheating on her. She quickly turned around and started walking back into the crowd, trying to stop the tears that were about to start falling. She was staring down at the ground, hoping nobody saw her, even though it was pretty dark in the room anyway, and tried to get as far away from there as possible. She was going so fast that she ran into somebody, and looked up to see Puck in a Jack Sparrow costume.

**Puck's POV**

Puck jumped back when he felt a head bump into his chest. Luckily, it wasn't hard enough to bruise, especially because his chest was as hard as a rock, but it was definitely hard enough to get his full attention. What he saw was a gorgeous girl dressed as Cinderella: Quinn. What he also saw was that she was crying again. He had no idea what had been up with this chick lately, but every time she ran into him, she was crying.

"Quinn?" Puck questioned, confused. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he heard her reply, before watching as she got up and tried to make it out as if she hadn't been crying, just like she had the previous Saturday in front of his house.

"Seriously. We keep running into each other like this and I'm getting sick of not knowing what's up. You can't stop crying lately," Puck told her. He had never seen her in a more vulnerable state than these past two weekends.

"You wanna know what's up? What's up is that my boyfriend doesn't care about me anymore. I'm his past, and lately, he seems to only care about glee club and…that _thing_ he performs with! I'm sick of it and I won't settle for second place," Quinn said.

Puck was pretty confused. Sure, Finn seemed to be distant from Quinn lately, but he figured it was because he had a lot going on. Ok, yea, Finn hung around Rachel, but it didn't seem like he hung around her much. The only reason that they hung around in the first place was because of glee club.

"Remember when he said he doesn't do couple's costumes? Apparently, he meant he doesn't do them with me. He has no problem doing it with man hands," Quinn informed Puck.

Puck was completely stunned. That didn't sound like Finn. He'd been acting strange lately, but enough to completely stab Quinn in the back like that? It just didn't sound right. It only took one last look at how sad Quinn was before Puck was off to find Finn. It upset him that his best friend had everything he wanted freshman year and pretty much took it for granted ever since glee club. Once he found Finn and Rachel, he walked up to his friend. "Dude, what the hell?"

"What?" Finn asked Puck.

"You told Quinn you don't do couple's costumes, but then you show up like that with Berry?"

"Oh, yea. I know, I kind of felt bad, but I knew that if I told Quinn she'd freak. It's just that…Rachel talked me into how cool they can be, and she said she needed my help to make some artistic statement, so…for the sake of glee, I did."

"Bullshit. You're an idiot. You wanted Quinn and football so badly last year, and now you change your mind to Berry and glee club? Quinn's on the verge of breaking up with you because all you do anymore is ignore her. You're practically trapping her in this sucky relationship of yours. If you want her, show her. If you don't, let her go. She's hurt. You've been taking advantage of the fact that she actually likes you."

"I'm just pissed at her. She's always yelling at me lately and I'm tired of it. I want a girlfriend, not a warden."

"She's not a warden. She has feelings, alright?"

"Why do you care so much?"

"Why don't _you_? I'm trying to help you both, but I guess this whole thing with her means nothing to you."

Puck just shook his head at his friend and left him there with Rachel. Puck normally didn't care about things that much, but something angered him about the fact that Finn could take advantage of the girl so easily and it set him off. Sure, Puck wasn't exactly a role model for not taking advantage of girls, but some deserved it more than others in his opinion.

**Quinn's POV**

Quinn heard the whole fight, as well as half the party, and followed Puck out to Santana's backyard. She watched as he sat down and dipped his feet in her pool. She had never thought he would stand up for her like he did. It was weird, but she figured he was trying to make everything up to her. She walked over to him and picked up her dress, before sitting next to him, leaving her feet out of the pool.

"You didn't have to do that," Quinn told Puck.

"He's been pissing me off lately. Trust me, it was my pleasure," he responded.

She smiled slightly, all of the sudden feeling bad for their lack of communication since freshman year. "You're not as bad as I thought," she suddenly said after a couple minutes of silence. Looking down at the crystal water, she continued, "When you have a friend, it seems you like to stick up for them, and I respect that."

Quinn looked up at him, then continued, "Plus, I respect the fact that you have a really cool Jack Sparrow costume."

The blonde heard Puck laugh slightly and smiled herself, figuring that having Puck as a friend may not be the worst idea.

"I owed you one," he said. Quinn saw him look over at her and continue, "Plus, you have a pretty cool costume yourself."

She smiled and played with her dress, looking back down and keeping her eyes on the ground, before looking up when she heard his voice ask, "So, we're cool then?"

Quinn nodded. "Yea…we're cool."

"Ya know, I know I'm Finn's friend and all, but I would dump him if I were you. I mean, you don't deserve it. I see you try hard every day for him and he ignores it. Sort of bothers me," he told her honestly.

Quinn was surprised Puck thought that about her, but it made her feel like Finn wasn't the only one. "Thanks…and you know, I notice a lot of the girls you sleep with try hard for you every day and you ignore it. I think some of them don't deserve it either."

She watched Puck think about what she said, before he nodded his head slightly. "Maybe they do. Guess I won't know 'till I let one in. I don't know when that day will be. I'm really not into commitment."

"Well, whoever you let in will be the right one, I'm sure."

Quinn watched Puck smile, before she heard him reply, "And whoever lets you in will be the right one."

This was definitely the nicest conversation they'd ever had. Quinn hadn't had a conversation like this with anyone in ages. It wasn't as hard to talk to Puck when he didn't act like a man-whore. He definitely had a side to him she never thought she'd see, but liked. The small talk and general silences between the two of them were nice, and she was glad to have gotten the chance to know him like this.

Quinn nodded before she looked out at the pool, only hoping he was right. She saw him stand up next to her, and figured he was leaving, before she heard, "Wanna go inside and dance? You deserve the fun."

She grinned before nodding again, and got up with his help to head inside with him.


End file.
